Armageddon Time (2022)

Direction: James Gray
Country: USA 

Armageddon Time is a simple coming-of-age tale that addresses venomous social injustices and overwhelming gaps in the American society. Even tamer than director James Gray’s previous New York stories - We Own the Night (2017) and Two Lovers (2018) - and dealing with a finale that is not particularly surprising, the film, set in 1981 Queens, is definitely marked by enough evocative power. It’s an entertaining, down-to-earth vehicle that, holding nothing back, is more focused in honesty than in any desire to impress. 

The film’s title may suggest another sci-fi incursion like Ad Astra (2019) or another plunge into adventure like The Lost City of Z (2016). Instead, Gray mounts a period drama film inspired by his own childhood experiences. The personification of himself at childhood comes as Paul Graff, a Jewish-American boy who wants to be an artist. Young actor Banks Repeta gives the character life, showcasing the struggle of a kid against racial discrimination in the family and at school, a fact that is further intensified when he is caught smoking weed in the school’s bathroom with his rebellious black friend, Johnny Davis (Jaylin Webb).

Uncomfortable and disoriented, he deals with disillusionment with more boldness than fear, not thanks to his caring mother (Anne Hathaway) nor his volatile father (Jeremy Strong), but with the help of his beloved grandfather Aaron (Anthony Hopkins), whose wise advice he listens attentively. The idea that’s hard to fight, but one can never give in is taken by Paul with hope and fortitude. 

A careful stylization by cinematographer Darius Khondji, who had worked with the director in The Immigrant (2013), creates a particular tonality inspired by Marcel Proust’s classic In Search of Lost Time. Gray put his passion into staging his painfully vivid memoirs, creating a nuanced, delicate film with a strong anti-racist message.

The Lost City of Z (2017)

Directed by James Gray
Country: USA

Written for the screen by James Gray (“Two Lovers”, “The Immigrant”), who also directs, “The Lost City of Z” is a biographical film that mixes drama and adventure in unequal proportions. The story had David Grann’s book of the same name as a source and tells the path of Percy Fawcett, a British officer and explorer who truly believed in the existence of a lost city in the middle of the Amazon forest.

The first scenes take us to 1905 Cork in Ireland where Major Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) rejoices while hunting, one of his great passions. What we learn minutes later, is that Fawcett has an even bigger passion that he just can’t control: to explore remote lands, which no white man has reached before. The sparkle in his eyes shows an unmeasured contentment when the prestigious Royal Geographical Society sends him to Bolivia in the company of the loyal Corporal Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson), a deep connoisseur of the Amazon rainforest, Corporal Arthur Manley (Edward Ashley), and Tadjui, an Indian guide who, knowing the dangerous river like the fingers of his hand, tells him about hidden cities covered with gold and inhabited by ancient civilizations.

Fawcett’s initial curiosity about these stories becomes an obsession when he discovers archeological evidence in the jungle. Managing to dodge from brutal Indigenous attacks and conquering hunger and tiredness, he returns safely to his beautiful and understanding wife Nina (Sienna Miller) and their little son, Jack. Even expecting another child, Nina knows there’s nothing she can do to prevent her brave husband from going back to the jungle and following his dream. It’s his destiny and his will, and Hunnam conveys it perfectly well.

After another failed attempt, in which the infiltrator James Murray (Angus Macfadyen) jeopardizes all the expedition, Fawcett and Costin are impelled to serve their country in the WWI. The noble Major returns as a hero, but his eyes became so affected that a new expedition to South America seems out of the question.
However, with the support of his brave family, Fawcett returns to the impenetrable Amazon forest, this time having just his fearless son Jack (Tom Holland) by his side.

Standing somewhere between "Fitzcarraldo" and "Deliverance", "The Lost City of Z" is a valid tale of perseverance, passion, and courage. There is plenty to like in the stunning frames captured by director of photography Darius Kondji (“Delicatessen”, “Amour”), but the film loses some exuberance in the way it is portrayed. Also, it was a shame that Gray had given less emphasis to the expeditions and its possible perils to focus more on the dramatic side of the story. I felt that a bit more of tension wouldn’t harm or compromise the outcome. 

Hence, don’t expect to find an Indiana Jones here, but rather a character based on a real explorer who abandoned his life for the passion of adventure. Solid watching!